Mumbai Indians gets a new sponsor, DHL Express joins the franchise as principal sponsor

The Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians has got a new sponsor on board as DHL Express has joined the franchise as principal sponsor.

For DHL Express this is the first cricket sponsorship deal.

“Globally, DHL supports some of the world’s largest and most popular sports formats – from football to rugby, Formula One and even e-sports. Today marks our foray into another crowd favorite: T20 Cricket,” said RS Subramanian, Senior VP and MD, DHL Express India.

The logo of the shipping and courier delivery company will now be seen on the back of Mumbai Indians' jersey which was earlier occupied by Colors TV, the general entertainment channel.

According to industry estimates, the cost to display brand name on the back of the jersey of Mumbai Indians is around Rs eight to 10 crore.

DHL Express is the fourth international brand to join Mumbai Indians’ current partner list having Samsung, Marriott International and Cadbury.

Despite the slowdown in the sponsorship space last year as well as apprehensions regarding investment in sports due to coronavirus outbreak, Mumbai Indians had entered the 13th edition of IPL with the addition of four global brands – Marriott Bonvoy, Colgate, Cadbury Dairy Milk and William Lawson’s, for multi-year deals.

The franchise had signed a three year deal with Marriott Bonvoy last year. Also, Mumbai Indians in 2019 had got Samsung on board as its lead sponsor for three years in a deal worth Rs 75 crore.

The franchise last year had become the first team to register Rs 100 crore in sponsorship revenues.

The five-time winners last year had registered the highest brand value.

For the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), registered a 7.1 percent spike in its brand value, according to brand valuation agency, Brand Finance.

The agency in its report said that Mumbai Indians, valued at USD 70.3 million, was the only team in IPL 13 to have seen growth.